Court rejects Saakashvili's appeal in refugee status case

Presiding Judge Andriy Korotkykh announced the respective decision on Monday, February 5, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The court ruled to reject appeal complaints from Saakashvili and the State Migration Service," Korotkykh said.

In particular, the court rejected appeals filed by the State Migration Service and Saakashvili against a Kyiv District Administrative Court ruling of January 3, which recognized as legitimate the refusal by the State Migration Service to grant Saakashvili the status of a refugee or a person in need of additional protection.

After the decision was announced, activists began shouting "Shame." Saakashvili was not present in the courtroom when the decision was read out.

Saakashvili's lawyer, Ruslan Chornolutsky, said that the defense team would file a cassation appeal against this decision.

According to him, if they also lose the cassation appeal, "we will move on to defend Saakashvili." "There are also European institutions," the lawyer added.

As reported, on July 26, 2017, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stripped former Georgian president and former Odesa regional governor Mikheil Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship.

On November 1, the State Migration Service directorate in Kyiv region decided to refuse to issue documents for Saakashvili on his recognition as a person in need of additional protection."

On January 3, 2018, Kyiv District Administrative Court recognized as legitimate the refusal by the State Migration Service to grant Saakashvili the status of a refugee or a person who needs additional protection after he was stripped of Ukrainian citizenship.

On January 17, Saakashvili stated that the State Migration Service itself had appealed against the decision taken in its favor in order to speed up the completion of the process, which would help deprive the leader of the Movement of New Forces party of any reasons to stay in Ukraine.

On January 22, Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal started hearing an appeal in the case on Saakashvili's status.